Tag Archives: mind machines

You may be familiar with the term “binaural beats”, especially if you’re into mind machines or brainwave entertainment. The word “binaural” is defined as “of two ears”. The technology behind this involves the brain being stimulated using different sounds in each ear using earphone with the goal of creating sensory or even spiritual feelings.

When the brain hears the alternating beats and tones in each ear, the brain syncs up with the tone’s patterns and produces various positive psychological experiences such as a sense of calm, happiness or possibly an enhanced intelligence and mental focus.
There is a lot of research going on trying to create different binaural beats but the execution is always the same: you put on the earphones, quietly lie back and listen. Psychologists and neuroscientists are divided on benefits of binaural beats, they are mostly concerned that regular use may develop into addiction and call binaural beats a “digital drugs“.

The technology of binaural beats is not new at all. The discovery of binaural beats goes back to the 1839. This is when Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, a scientist from Prussia discovered the concept and started experimenting and using binaural beat technology. But it’s just been in recent decades when high-quality headphones became generally available that practical use has taken off. Using good quality headphones enabled the technology to be kicked up a notch because each pattern of sound can be isolated to just one ear, and there are no background distractions. This isolation of sounds, beats and tones has contributed greatly to the science of binaural beats.

An article in Scientific American, 1973 called “Auditory Beats in the Brain” by Gerald Oster was about the results of a pioneer study on binaural beats and introduced the topic to the public at large. This article is still mentioned today due to its organized and detailed explanation of the topic.